Mom’s power against nuclear power

Protesters attend an anti-nuclear rally in front of Japan's Nuclear and Industrial Safety Agency (NISA) in Tokyo, capital of Japan, on April 26, 2011, the 25th anniversary of the Chernobyl nuclear disaster. (Photo DB=Xinhua)

Japan’s nuclear power industry, which once boasted of the world-class safety, now finds its existence threatened by women angered by the government’s opaqueness on radiation from the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant after it was struck by an earthquake-driven tsunami in March. 

Aileen Miyoko Smith, head of Green Action said in an interview with IPS, “Mothers are at the forefront of various grassroots movements that are working together to stop the operation of all nuclear plants in Japan from 2012.”

More than 100 anti-nuclear protestors, mostly women, met with officials of the Nuclear Safety Commission this week and passed a statement calling for a transparent investigation into the accident and a permanent shutdown of all nuclear power plants. 

Currently six out of 56 nuclear plants in Japan are closed for tests after the Fukushima accident and more than 150,000 people remain unable to return home due to high levels of radiation. 

Japan’s prime minister announced last week that the devastated Fukushima Daiichi complex has been brought down to a state of ‘cold shutdown’, a crucial step toward the eventual lifting of evacuation orders and closing of the plant.

Goshi Hosono, minister of state for nuclear power policy and administration said, “The first stage of controlling the terrible accident has been achieved. The government will follow a road map which in 30-40 years will make Fukushima safe again.”   

However, A. M. Smith views the announcements as a warning. “We are stepping up our activism to ensure that the government and power industries, now eager to create a notion of security, will not restart nuclear plants.”

Indeed, groups of women have been setting up tents since last week in spite of the cold weather to prepare for a new sit-in campaign in front of the ministry of economic affairs. They have pledged to continue their demonstration for 10 months, a period traditionally recognizes as a full pregnancy in Japan.   

Chieko Shina, a participant and a grandmother from Fukushima said, “Our protests are aimed at achieving a rebirth in Japanese society. There is a need to change the way the authorities have run the country by putting economic growth ahead of protecting the lives of people.” 

Japan watchers view the protests as a landmark in Japan’s fledgling social movements long considered to be a low priority compared to economic development. Professor Hideo Nakazawa, a sociologist at Chuo University describes the ongoing demonstrations as both a display of resentment against authority as well as the use of nuclear power.

Takanobu Kobayashi of the Matsudo Network of Citizens’ Movements said, “The ongoing demonstrations symbolise the determination of ordinary people who do not want nuclear power because it is dangerous. There is also the bigger message that we do not trust the government anymore.”